"Alien" & "Aliens"

I think we can honestly say that these are not at all movies that I would ever own or want to see. But the project dictates that I must watch them, so watch them I did. And I gotta say, not nearly as scary as I had feared.

The scariest part of the movie was JP's pre-movie wind up. He was very excited about watching this, so he made bug-eyes, scary faces and comments implying that I was going to wet my pants in fear. He also told me that this movie scared the daylights out of him the first time he watched it (when he was a kid mind you.) So, going in to it, I wasn't that excited. Just going to get it done. . .

Do you know the story? Surely everyone does by now.  A crew of astronauts are awoken from their slumber to inspect a signal sent out from a nearby planet. When they get there they venture out, only to discover a alien craft filled with "eggs". (And this is where my first point comes up - Don't touch the eggs! Why would you touch the eggs? If they didn't touch the eggs in the first place they would have all survived and I wouldn't have had to watch this movie.)
So, the dude that touches the egg comes back to the ship with a octopus type alien creature on suctioned on to his face. For a few days they try to remove it until one day it's gone and the dude seems to be back to normal. Then at breakfast comes the scene that I've seen parodied so many times, he convulses and an alien rips forth from his stomach and disappears off into the depths of the ship. For the rest of the movie the crew hunt this alien that appears to be getting larger and larger with each crew member he kills, until only Ripley is left. She manages to set the ship to explode and escape in the escape capsule, only to have to kill the alien when she realises that it too has escaped on the capsule.

Sigourney Weaver is Ripley, a role for which she is famous for. I don't know why but I'm not really a fan of hers. I can't put my finger on it but she just annoys me.

As I've mentioned before, during movies that I'm not keen on or could slightly be scared of I tend to talk. JP has determined that I do it as a method of disassociating myself from the movie so that I am not so engrossed in the plotline and therefore the horror. I tend to agree with this, but I must also mention that I do ask a lot of questions because I really am trying to understand what's happening, honest!

I found myself laughing out loud at some points in the movie - the first being the alien rupturing out of the dudes stomach. JP told me my laugh at these points are distingubishable laughs which can be interpreted to mean  "I'm laughing but I'm actually scared, but I'd rather laugh than show I'm scared." There might be a slight truth in this, but it would be subconcious and besides, I really did find some of it funny, not scary.

What I got out of watching this movie was more insight into myself than about the actual movie. I'm not a fan of space settings, aliens or watching people run around with guns in a vain attempt to not be killed by the rampaging alien type movies.

Overall, I'm not going to watch it again, but it's a classic so I'm proud of myself for having watched it. And I'm proud of myself for not wetting myself in fright. If you're a boy, watch it. If you're a girl that likes aliens, watch it. If you're at all like me, don't watch it. It's that easy. And finally - Don't touch the eggs!!

After watching "Alien" I was a little more ok about "Aliens".  This time the story picks up right where "Alien" ended - with Ripley in slumber mode on the escape capsule. The capsule is docked and she is discovered. Only it's been 57 years since she went into slumber mode. In 57years the alien planet where those blimen eggs that started the disaster were found, humans have based themselves there in an attempt to make it habitabal. When the township on the planet go off radar, Ripley is forced to work with a group of soldiers to investigate. When they arrive they discover that the town has been overtaken by the aliens. Not just one this time, but dozens and dozens of the slimey bastards. Of course their transport off the planet is destroyed and they must fight the aliens from the inside until rescure comes. They discover a small girl that has survived, the only one that has. They proceed to fight the aliens, and some team members that turn out to want to bring the aliens home. It follows similar lines as the first movie in that they fight the aliens until they are all almost gone. Of course, Ripley survives and even manages to fight the alien queen to save the wee girl and take her home. Awwwww.

After watching this movie JP tells me about Aliens3 and Aliens4 and about how sucky they really are. From the sounds of it I'm glad he doesn't own them. I think "Aliens" was a good sequeal. It fitted nicely with the first one and was a natural follow on of the storyline. Adding the little girl was a good touch, as it made Ripley seem more real.

The actors in this sequel were good, although I really really wanted to reach in to the movie and slap Bill Paxtons charachter. Gees was he annoying! Can't say I was sad when his character was mauled by an alien. Again, Sigourney Weaver was Ripley a role she is great in, but I still can't explain what it is about her that is annoying. The wee girl that plays "Newt" is sweet and man what a set of lungs on her!

This movie really bought me out of my funk. That seems odd I know. Normally a movie like this would just piss me off, or scare me, but I gained some wisdom from this movie that has helped me gain a bit of perspective = No matter how much life sucks, or how much it throws at me to test me, at least I'm not fighting man-eating aliens. And that's my new motto.

Had I had the choice I would not have watched this, but once again the project has given me just what I needed. Of course, the actual movie was ok, but I won't be watching it again. But it did give me my new motto.

If you've watched "Alien" and enjoyed it, then "Aliens" is a pretty good sequel and well worth a watch. If you haven't watched "Alien" then you'll probably want to watch that first, although probably not entirely necessary.

Next movie? "American Gangster". Another JP movie and then we're on to a couple of children's animations - yay :)